The Return
by JuneLuxray2
Summary: After the events of Phantom Planet, Danny finally has to return to school. How will he brave the day with a revealed secret?
1. Chapter 1

**Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman**

**Story (c) Me**

"Danny! Time to get up!"

This maternal voice was one of the most familiar voices he knew. And right now, he didn't want to hear it. He pulled a pillow over his head as he heard a knocking at the door. "Danny? Are you up?"

He chose not to respond and to rather turn invisible, acting as if he wasn't there at all. The sound of the door opening was painfully obvious. Inside, he was wishing that he had the power to pause time. Just a few more minutes to sleep...to not go to school and deal with everyone and everything. "Danny. C'mon." Maddie's voice came to him through the pillow. She pulled off his blankets.

She paused for a moment. Her eyes trailed over the seemingly empty bed- well, not even seemingly. Danny's bed had a lowered canyon in it where the weight of his body pushed down the springs in his bed. She guessed where his ribs were, then poked a nerve ending right under the ribs. As she expected, Danny jumped from the pressure being pushed on the nerve ending, turning visible as a result. He let go of his grip on his pillow with a loud groan. "I don't wanna go to school."

"C'mon, Danny, get up. I know this is going to be a long day for you, but what's the point of pushing it off? Besides, the earlier you get there, the less amount of kids you're going to have to attempt to avoid in the morning." Maddie encouraged. He sighed and sat up, stretching his stiff muscles.

"Fine." he grumbled, getting up. "I'm gonna get dressed, so can you leave please?" he asked. Maddie nodded, planted a kiss on his forehead, then left. Danny gazed about the room, groaning tiredly. "Well, here I go. Good God, I hate Mondays." he muttered, getting up. Quickly he threw on a pair of jeans and his usual shirt and stumbled out of his bedroom to the kitchen downstairs. The wonderful smell of fresh strawberries and french toast wafted- the only joy he had that morning.

Upon rounding into the kitchen, he saw his father and sister at the table. He raised an eyebrow. "Where's Mom?" Danny asked. Jack looked up.

"Doing something in the lab. She said she'd be back up in a minute. Come eat some breakfast." his father said cheerfully. Danny managed to smile and came into the kitchen, grabbed some strawberries and a slice of thick french toast, and began to eat. A moment later Maddie came in and got breakfast for herself.

Even with the delectable food, Danny still was without ease. He chewed quietly, remaining silent among the chatty family. Among his inner conflict, he failed to notice his hand go intangible and his french toast slip right through his finger, making for an unholy _splat _of the toast, landing halfway on his plate and halfway onto the table. Everyone turned to look as Danny finally realized what happened with mortification. He quickly turned his hand tangible and without a word got up for paper towels and cleaned up the mess.

Jazz finally spoke. "You haven't done that in a long time, Danny," she said, surprised, "Are you alright?"

Danny looked up, then back down with haste. "I-I'm fine."

"Ohh..." Maddie frowned. "Is it because you're going to school today, sweetheart?" she asked with sympathy. Danny sighed.

"Maybe a little..."

"Aw, Danny," Jack cut in. "You'll be fine. It's understandable you're nervous, but tell you what. You survive this day, and we get pizza tonight. That okay with you, Mads?"

"Perfect. Plus, you'll have Sam and Tuck to help you out. Alright?" she asked. Danny smiled a little- not a lot- and nodded. He looked to the clock in the kitchen.

"I wanna get there early, so I'm gonna leave now." He changed into this ghost form after saying that without much of a warning. "See you guys later." He phased through the ceiling and flew away. Jack frowned.

"I really wish he would tell us when he's gonna transform and fly off. Those ring-things that change him are blinding!"

* * *

><p>As Danny flew towards the school, he saw that few students were there, and the ones that were there were too drowsy to notice the ghost boy flying over the school. Said ghost boy turned invisible lest they notice him and flew inside, transforming back in front of his locker when he made sure no one was there. Or so he thought.<p>

Around a corner in the hall, two jocks were peering in on him. The blond haired one whispered to his friend. "I told you, Kwan, there he is! I knew he'd sneak in here early!"

"Dash, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, he's way stronger than we are, and if we make him mad..."

"If we make him mad, we run like there's a football one foot away from us we're trying to catch. No, faster."

"A-are you ready, then?"

"Duh. Let's go."

"But what if he doesn't want to be bug-"

"_Go!_"

"You guys realize I can hear _every word_you just said, right?" Danny finally cut in. He finally closed his locker after taking out books he needed and turned to the startled boys who came out from their hiding spot. "You guys are really bad at keeping quiet. If you're planning on just bothering me or shoving me in my locker, go away. I don't feel like dealing with either of you." He flashed his eyes green for his point. The jocks backed up.

"N-no, nothing like that. Of course not. We were...um, stupid. Really stupid to bully Danny Phantom or not even notice it was him. Anyhow..." Dash cleared his throat. "Just hear us out, okay?"

Danny was both surprised and suspicious. _"Well, what can they do to me? If they're not being serious, it's not like I can't phase through their grip."_he thought to himself. He shrugged. "Fine, but make it quick. I still don't trust either of you or anyone else who treated me like crud. They'd only be kind to me because of who they realized I am."

"We promise that's not why! Uh..." Even Dash gulped. "You see...oh, to heck with it! We wanna know if you'll join the football team!" he blurted out. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"And why is that?" he inquired. Kwan cut in.

"B-because, imagine! You have superpowers and when you get tackled, you could phase right out of the guy's grip and-"

"That would be cheating."

"Then super strength!" Dash cut in. "You could plow your way through the-"

"I'm only 'super strong' in ghost form."

"What about flying over the other team? No one could reach you!"

"Again, cheating, again, only in ghost form- haven't really learned to fly much in human form. Look, if you're just going to constantly bother me about the football team- which I really don't have time for as a superhero, then...wait, look over there!" he pointed behind them. The two jocks flipped around in alarm.

"Why, what's behind us?" Kwan asked, looking around in confusion. "Is it a-"

_"Boo."_

With screams, the two boys fled. Danny chuckled after a moment and turned visible again. He hadn't even bothered to put any sort of effort into that 'boo' and it still scared the jocks enough to make them scream and run. Maybe this day wouldn't be so-

"Hello there, _Danny._How might you be, you cutie?" A familiar Hispanic girl's voice purred. Danny groaned.

_"And...I take that last thought back. Seriously, what is it with people and coming behind me to surprise me to talk to me?"_He thought to himself, irritated, as he turned to Paulina. "Paulina, I-"

"I'm sorry I ignored you, babe. My true love was right in front of me the whole time..." While Paulina was speaking, Danny began to become anxious. More and more people were coming in and noticing him. Whispers and gasps and pointing fingers were directed to or about him. Paulina continued. "And I say we forget what happened before and begin dating, hmm?" she said. Danny groaned.

"Paulina, I'm already dating-"

"-He's already with me, Paulina." Sam came up to Danny's rescue. Danny turned to the goth girl who was now beside him. Paulina gasped.

"Prove it! You wouldn't leave me for her, would you, Danny?" she asked. Sam pulled off a familiar ring from her finger and showed Paulina the inside which read 'Sam'. Paulina gasped in horror. "There's no way he would-"

"You're deluding yourself, woman."

"Danny-"

"I'm sorry, Paulina. Sam's already claimed my heart. Look, you have to move on. There's plenty of guys who would love to have you- like Dash. Later." Danny said. He gripped Sam's hand and turned away before Paulina could say anything. He grimaced.

"That was awkward...and there's people staring."

"Would they not stare if we weren't holding hands?"

"Point taken. Where's Tucker?"

"He's...gonna be late to school today, Danny."

"Why?"

"He learned yesterday that he's not actually mayor...and that even if he was, he's underage..." Sam murmured. Danny frowned.

"Oh, _ouch._That's why he wasn't online yesterday. I was trying to message him, but he was gone-"

"_Danny!_" Tucker's cry came without a warning as Danny was pushed to the ground with a tackling hug. As they stood up, Tucker still clung to Danny. "How could they do this to me, bro? _Why?_" he wailed. Danny patted Tucker's back awkwardly.

"Whoa, Tuck, calm down- people are staring."

Tucker paused for a moment. He then let go. "Uh...sorry. That was awkward." he said. The two boys then snickered. Sam rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Maybe I should have told Paulina that you two were in a relationship, not me with Danny."

_"Hey!"_

"Let it go, boys. We have to get to class before we're late." Sam said, beginning to walk in the direction of their first period class. Tucker pouted.

"Meanie!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I know this has been done a lot, but I'm doing it because I wanted to see my own twist on it.**

**I REGRET NOTHING!**

**Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman**

**Story (c) Me**

When they got to first period English, Danny was shocked to find that Mr. Lancer hadn't even batted an eye when Danny came in. He merely gave his usual 'hello' and told him to sit down, then told the rowdy kids who were excited to ask Danny questions and be in the same class as the hero of the world to settle down. Class began as usual...nothing was out of the ordinary...

A puff of cold, blue-tinted air escaped his mouth. Prior to Danny's secret being revealed, everyone just thought that he was a freak who got cold too easy. Now, with new knowledge of the boy's powers, murmurs arose. Danny rolled his eyes and stuck his hand up. Lancer looked up at Danny. "Get going and hurry up, Mr. Fenton. We're doing very important _Julius Caesar_ studying..." he said dryly. Danny smiled at him gratefully, albeit a little surprised by the casualness of the man's words- as if he had to say them every day. Danny quickly transformed, much to the yells of excitement from the class as Danny flew out with haste. Lancer scowled. "Alright class, settle down, lest I give you a pop quiz!" The class silenced, though everyone was eager to shout about what just happened.

Danny looked for the pestilence that set off his ghost sense, but he did not have to search long. "I am the Box Ghost!" a cry came as the portly blue ghost became visible. Danny froze him and sucked him in the Fenton thermos without a word, then flew back into the classroom, transforming back to everyone's surprise- no one expected him to be done that fast. He cleared his throat.

"What page are we on?" he whispered to Tucker. Lancer spoke up.

"Page 652 of your English textbook. We're having people act out characters in the play by saying the dialogue- you've come back just in time. I have the perfect role for you."

"What's what?"

"Caesar's ghost." At those words, the class burst out loud into laughter. Danny stared at his teacher, a little annoyed.

"You gotta be kidding me. Why?"

"You know why. He only has a few lines, so just do it."

"...Fine." Danny begrudgingly opened his book. The other students with roles said their lines, and finally it was Danny's turn. He said his lines, embarrassment from the attention within him. When he was done, the other kids went on. Danny was beyond bored of the story, but he was half-listening to what was going on. He stared at the clock, waiting for the period to end.

Finally it did, and when the bell rang, Danny gave a relieved sigh and was about to rush out with his friends, when...

"Mr. Fenton, a word, please?" Danny and his friends stopped short. He told them that he'd catch up with them later and turned to Lancer. When everyone was out of the classroom, Mr. Lancer talked. "You and I know what happened just recently- I must say I am proud of you, as well as a little awed I'm teaching the savior of our world."

"Not to mention Danny Phantom, for the fact." Danny said with a shrug. "But thank you." he finished. Lancer chuckled a little.

"Actually, Mr. Fenton, it's time I revealed something to you. I've known who you are for awhile now- a couple months. I didn't tell you because I figured it'd be better for you in a way. It'd be a lot more awkward if you knew that I knew." he said. He almost laughed ath the expression on Danny's face upon hearing that.

"You knew? How?" Danny asked, befuddled and shocked. Lancer shrugged.

"You didn't _really_ think that there was no one in this town who was smart enough to piece it together, do you? It was so obvious to me when I started thinking about it. I became suspicious soon after the CAT- I wasn't sure why, but one day the odd idea popped into my head when you were studying in detention. It was everything that helped me figure it out: your voice, your hair style, your eyes, your alter ego's name, the fact you were in a lab accident. Not the mention the constant running off or coming to school late. I was surprised no one else had come up with it. Goes to show how dense people can be."

Danny stared, speechless. Lancer continued. "I didn't treat you any differently today because I didn't see the need to. I already knew; why act shocked over it? Alright, that all aside, one last thing. If you sense a ghost in my class, all you must do is raise your hand so I know you're going." he finished. Danny managed to smile.

"Oh, wow...thanks, Mr. Lancer..."

"Don't mention it." He paused as the bell rang. Danny jumped in alarm. Lancer frowned.

"It appears I've taken more time than intended. Here, I'll write you a hall pass..." Lancer pulled out a paper and wrote on it, then handed it to Danny. "Now, get along. You're late as it is." he said. Danny smiled and ran off. Lancer couldn't help but crack a smile. He felt lucky to have this boy as a student.

Danny was rushing through the hallways to class, worried about the teacher's reaction to him being late- not to mention the class when he came in. He almost stopped short when he remembered what period was next with horror and dread.

Gym.


	3. Chapter 3

** Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman**

** Story (c) Me**

Danny was in and out of the locker room as fast as he could, then rushed to the gym. To his relief, the teachers hadn't shown up yet when he looked inside. Nothing other than kids hanging around and talking. Sam and Tucker were looking for him. He frowned, and making sure no one was looking, turned invisible. He walked in- no one noticed him. When he approached his friends, they heard footsteps approaching. He whispered to them. "Let's go in the corner. I can turn visible behind you guys. It'd kinda freak out everyone else that I appear out of nowhere."

Sam and Tucker smiled and did what he told them. When they were out of the way, Danny went behind them and became visible. They then began to talk casually for awhile, until a shrill cry of a whistle got their attention. Tetslaff had finally gotten in the gym. They rushed over to where she was taking role call, getting in a line of alphabetical order. Danny and Tucker were lined up next to each other as a result; Fenton and Foley.

Tetslaff walked down the row of kids, writing down who was present and who wasn't. "...Baxter, Chippen, Dean..." The woman paused when she got to Danny. He shyly tried to smile at her. She sized him up. "...Fenton." she wrote down, still staring at the boy. She raised and eyebrow and continued on. "Foley, Green..." she continued reading last names off. Danny and Tucker looked to each other. Danny frowned.

"She could not have given me a stranger look if she tried." he muttered, ignoring kids who turned to peer at him and Tucker. Tucker shrugged.

"I'm not too surprised. She was comparing who was more of a manly man than the other- you or me. I was the victor, of course." Tucker said with a smirk. Danny snickered. Tucker always knew how to lighten a mood. This only lasted a minute.

"_Fen-_ton! How're you? And Foley!" a familiar voice rang from behind them. Danny groaned.

_"Not this again..."_he thought, annoyed, as he turned to see Dash. He frowned. "Dash, if you're just here to to continue to convince me to join the football team, the answer is no." Dash shook his head.

"No, no! Uh...listen, you guys...I just want to, uh, apologize for what I did...I shouldn't never been mean to you guys. You're cool. I wanted to know if we could be friends 'n stuff! All the other A-list kids are hoping so! All the three of you- Fenton, Foley, and Manson. What do ya say?" he asked. Danny and Tucker shared an unimpressed look, then turned back to Dash.

"Dude," Danny crossed his arms. "You've picked on us since elementary school. That'd be kinda hard to just let go. You've shoved us in lockers, you've pulled all sorts of pranks on us- not funny, ah-ha-that-was-a-good-one-pranks. No."

"They were cruel, cruel pranks! Not to mention the occasional swirly! And now..."

"It seems like you just wanna be friends with us because I'm the ghost boy and Sam and Tucker were- are still are- heroes who work along with me. It will take a long time before we can actually be considered friends..." Danny paused. Dash looked saddened and defeated. Before he turned away, Danny and Tucker muttered to each other, coming to an agreement.

"But-" Tucker said, making Dash looked up at them hopefully. "I guess we can start now the 'healing' process...first things first. We have first names, Dash, use them. I'm Tucker, my best friend right here is Danny. Got that?"

Dash nodded eagerly. "Of course, Tucker! Oh wow...that's going to be awkward. And Danny...yeah. I'll see you guys later." With that, he walked off, triumphant. Danny shrugged.

"Sure it was smart to give him a chance?" he asked. Tucker smiled.

"Might as well- he would become more annoying than anything if we didn't-"

"Fenton and Foley, get over here!" Tetslaff shouted. The two spun around and ran to the crowd of kids around her. She waited for them, then spoke. "We're playin' hockey today. Teams of five. A goalie, two defenders, and two offense players. Get into groups, but if it doesn't work, I'll put you in teams myself. Go!"

Immediately Danny, Sam and Tucker scrambled to start their group, avoiding anyone else who tried to be on their team. They did allow Mikey to join them. A girl named Iris that Sam was an acquaintance of joined them, making the group of five. "Who's playing what position?" Mikey asked. Danny smiled.

"I'll be goalie...I'm not much good at offense." he said. Iris and Mikey stared at him. He frowned. "I am only 'super' in ghost form." he clarified. They gave an 'oh' and said okay. Sam and Iris were put on offense, Tucker and Mikey on defense. They were assigned a goal, and they began to play against another team.

It went normally. Sometimes Sam and Iris got a goal, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes Mikey and Tucker could block a puck, sometimes they couldn't. Danny sometimes blocked an incoming puck- and sometimes he missed. Soon gym was over. Tucker chattered with Danny on the way to the locker room. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked. Danny smiled.

"Well, gym's always bad, no matter what. But not as bad as I expected today."

He was about to regret saying that. After they got dressed and left the lockers, some boys approached them. "Hey Ghost Boy," one of them said, "I wanna see your powers. I got some paper here. Mind blasting a hole through it or something?"

"No thanks." Danny said, frowning. They groaned.

"Aw, c'mon! Just one?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to. I don't see a point in it."

"But-"

"Alright, you wanna see my powers?" Danny asked them. They nodded eagerly. Danny turned invisible, startling them.

"What- where did he go?" one of them asked, looking around.

_"Boo!"_Unlike this morning, Danny had put more effort into that 'boo', which made them shout in surprise and run. Danny turned visible, laughing. He and Tucker shared a high-five. Dash approached them, rolling his eyes.

"Danny, you oughta know those guys are gonna come back. An' next time they're not gonna be afraid of that trick. Just tell them you'll kick their ass if they bother you." Dash suggested. Danny rotated his head towards him.

"Nah, too straightforward. I'll just find more pranks to pull on them."

"Like the ones you probably pulled on me before we knew who you were?" the jock asked. Danny nodded.

"Exactly like the ones we pulled on you!" he said. Dash rolled his eyes again and left. Sam caught up with them a minute later. At the moment, it was nutrition- time to relax for a few minutes. They went to their usual lunch table and talked- Danny was beginning to get used to ignoring people. Alas, soon the bell rang. Next period was Biology.

**AN: don't bug me about Iris, 'cause she's never coming back. I just needed to throw someone extra into their team. So there.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman**

**Story (c) Me**

* * *

><p>In Biology, the trio took their usual seats next to each other and listened to the teacher, Mr. Poluka, taking roll. When he saw Danny, the boy shyly waved and looked down at his desk. Mr. Poluka couldn't suppress a small chuckle at this. After he had finished roll, he smiled. "Alright, well, today's the day on your schedule where we get to dissect a frog..."<p>

A number of kids let out disgusted cries, and Sam scowled. Danny's eyes widened. He had forgotten they were supposed to be dissecting a frog. "Now, get into groups of three- your group cannot exceed four people- and one of you come up and get the handout and another come get a tray with the tools you need, and one come get the frog." Poluka said. It was a no-brainer for the three to get into a group. Danny got the tray, Sam got the handout, and Tucker got the dead frog.

They quickly retreated to their desks. "Alright, now one of you will be drawing the parts of the frog, one will be taking notes, and one will be dissecting the frog. This is going to be done over the course of a few days, so the rolls will switch so each of you will get the chance to dissect it."

"Right. Well, who's going to be dissecting first?" Tucker asked. Sam frowned.

"I can't believe that they didn't use the robot frogs I suggested...I vote Danny."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you can turn the frog's belly intangible so we don't have to cut the poor thing!"

Danny immediately objected. "Uh-uh, no. I don't want to attract attention- well, more attention- and the thing's long dead. It's all stiff and stuff. It doesn't make a difference whether or not we cut it. Besides, we all have to do it at some point. You can get it done with now so you don't have to do it eventually. And I can't even do the intangible thing...it's hard to only turn a specific area intangible, which I still can't do well, which makes a bad chance that everything will fall out the minute I try intangibility. Also, we still will have to take out organs 'n stuff...so we kinda have to cut anyhow. But, uh, if you don't want to do it, I can dissect today."

Sam sighed. "Fine. It's alright, Danny, I'll just get it over with." she said, pulling the frog over. She put on gloves and safety goggles. Tucker grabbed a notebook, and Danny stole a few sheets to draw out the frog's guts. A few kids in the background let out groans of disgust from the smell of the guts. The trio, who had been through worse (and worse smells, for that matter) in the Ghost Zone merely wrinkled their noses in disgust and continued.

Everything went fairly smoothly. When Sam finally got the belly open, the trio stared down at the frog guts. Tucker pointed to small yellow blobs in the frog by the stomach. "What the heck 're those things?" he asked, about to consult the handout. Mr. Poluka, who had overheard them nearby after assisting another group, approached and looked at the frog. "That's fat." he said calmly. Tucker frowned.

"That's fat?"

"Yep."

Tucker stared for a moment longer before shuddering and turning away to take more notes. Sam and Danny snickered.

"Would it be wrong if I just drew blobs, colored them yellow, and said they were fat?" Danny asked his teacher. Poluka shrugged.

"Just copy what you see in the frog, and that's fine. Anyhow, how are you three doing so far?"

"Fine, if not a tiny bit grossed out." Tucker answered. Mr. Poluka smiled.

"Well, I would guess you three would've been through worse than this."

"Yep. It's still gross, though." Danny muttered. His teacher shrugged.

"Well, I thought it was kind of gross when I did it for the first time when I was a teenager. But hey, I'm a biology teacher now, and since I do this once a year every year with all of my biology classes, dead frogs and frog guts don't bother me in the least. Almost everyone is grossed out on the first time...well, unless you're the girls over in the front desk." he said, pointing to brown-haired girl with a black shirt dissecting the frog, a blond-haired girl next to her taking notes rapidly, and another girl with short, black hair drawing the frog guts. The trio blinked and turned back to their frog in disgust.

"Well...can't get any worse, right?" Tucker asked.

"Don't ever say that, Tucker...whenever we do, something worse happens...it's jinxed." Danny said flatly. Right after Poluka turned to go help a group who needed help, the fire drill went off. Though it was probably just a drill for practice, as the school had from time-to-time, Tucker groaned.

"We really never get a break, do we?"


End file.
